Walk through any grocery store today and, chances are, you will be bombarded by a plethora of food offerings billed as “low-carb.” And it’s no wonder, considering that anywhere from 10 to 24 million Americans have jumped on the low-carbohydrate bandwagon (Reuters 2004). But is this way of eating destined to fall by the wayside like the low-fat craze of the 1990s? Man...

According to the November issue of the Harvard Health Letter, researchers at Georgia State University in Atlanta have found that when people eat with others, they consume 44% more food than when they eat alone....

Women who eat large amounts of carbohydrates with a high glycemic load may be at much higher risk for developing colon cancer, according to a study that appeared in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The culprit? Higher blood sugar levels and an elevated insulin response that can foster tumor growth. In fact, women who frequently ate foods like refine...

For some time now, researchers have been extolling the virtues of functional foods, those whole, fortified, enhanced and enriched foods that provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), the active components in functional fo...

We all know that getting adequate calcium during childhood is essential to building strong teeth and bones. But what effect does a calcium-rich diet have on weight gain in youngsters, especially adolescent girls who are particularly concerned about body image?
To determine that, researchers examined 59 girls over a period of 2 years. The girls, who were 9 years old at the star...

When it comes to rating diet books, Tufts University is a tough critic. The university has panned everyone from Dr. Phil to Dr. Atkins, while snubbing the Zone and South Beach diets. But now the institution has awarded accolades to three diet books on the market. Here’s a loo...

Any cook who has ever tried to guess how many asparagus spears equal a pound when a scale is not available knows how hard this can be. (Try stuffing a measuring cup with those pesky raw spears!) Here’s a cheat sheet to follow when faced with this type of dilemma.
asparagus: 1 pound = 15–20 large spears
carrots: 1 pound = 5–6 medium carrots
green b...